1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing assist device and the like which assists an agent in a drawing operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally in an object-based drawing editor in a CAD device or the like, input of an object is performed through an electronic pen, a digitizer, a mouse and the like after a menu on a liquid crystal display is selected or a menu on a tablet is touched. However, these operations are excessive compared with hand drawing.
Accordingly, there has been disclosed a drawing method (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. H07-168951) in which a graphic pattern in descriptive geometry to which a hand-drawn object is similar is determined and the hand-drawn object is converted to the graphic pattern defined in descriptive geometry and is displayed on the liquid crystal display. According to this drawing method, a graphic pattern can be input and/or output without the need of selecting a menu on a liquid crystal display or touching a menu on a tablet.
Similar to the above method, there has been disclosed a drawing method in which a stereoscopic model is easily created by using an interaction approach (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. H08-194840). According to this method, a stereoscopic model can be generated only by inputting a graphic pattern imaged by a user, without the need of inputting a coordinate representing a three dimensional space for the graphic pattern envisioned by the user or a command every time when the graphic pattern is inputted.
Furthermore, there has been proposed an element regulation approach in which a shape of a hand-drawn object (element) is regulated similar to a shape registered in a data base through pattern-matching between the shape of the object and each of a plurality of shapes registered in the data base.
However, according to the drawing method in which a hand-drawn object (element) is converted to a graphic pattern, the user can draw the element without being constrained by a dimension, shape and the like of the element; therefore, there is a possibility that the user may ignore a design constraint condition related to the element being drawing.
Further, according to the element regulation approach through pattern-matching, the element cannot be regulated to a shape which is not registered in the data base. Therefore, it is not free to draw by hand an element of arbitrary shape, which makes it appropriate to design a part of complicated shape.
Moreover, according to the drawing method in which a stereoscopic model (element) is easily created, a material, strength or the like for a part or the like molded on the basis of the drawn stereoscopic model is not taken into consideration. Therefore, a factor which is difficult to be confirmed visually, such as a mistaken selection on a material of the element which is being drawing or the like, may not be found out even for a relatively high-experienced user in design unless the user performs a test actually on a component made according to a designed subject. In addition, there is a possibility that a factor which is relatively difficult to be confirmed visually, such as insufficient strength caused by insufficient thickness of the element which is being drawing, is difficult to be discovered when a user is drawing the element, especially when the user is a beginner. It is also possible that the insufficient strength or the like may be discovered through confirmation from a third person after the drawing is finished. In these cases, it is necessary for the user to perform the drawing operation again from the beginning, which makes the operation troublesome.
Accordingly, there has been considered to create a mechanism to check whether or not a factor is adequate in design through a macro-assembler or the like, however, it is difficult to conduct interactive operations in the drawing operation with such a simple mechanism. Additionally, since know-how registration related to drawing is performed manually, it is troublesome to do maintenance of the data base, and consequently, it is difficult to make use of it in the long run.